Almost 20 years ago tot he date Tim Berners Lee wrote that the web is a more social tool and a technological one.

What is a social site? What it is today is going to seem odd in 20 years we will think, isn’t it odd that we had to go to these sites (like facebook or twitter) to be social?

In the future social network will be like air, it will be everywhere around us. For example, ratings on Amazon will be from people that I know. Or I give Amazon permission to know I am and who my friends are and I get to see those ratings and reviews.

Another example is how social will influence events, or how mobile apps will connect people or how TV becomes social. Current TV shows tweets, but maybe I just want to see my friends’ tweets or a certain type of tweet?

Integra5 is TV that enables you to invite your friends and comment in real time while watching the same show.

Salesforce enables facebook profiles to be integrated. LinkedIn also has a plug in. Increasingly social network activity is not happening on social networks.

What do we need to make social networks like air?

1. Identity – who you are
I have two places on each network and different email addresses to sign into them. Ideally there is an identity that you control. But it can be complex.

2. Contacts – who you know
Friend management is tough today. Plus your relationships are constantly changing
Use implicit social data to fill in gaps.

3. Activities – what you do
What sites I visit, what I read, who I call, etc.

The social algorithm will make privacy and permission easier to manage.

We are just at the beginning, so patience is needed.

Two sets of rules/standards that exist
1. facebook – great job of identity and contact via facebook connect
2. open stack – open id, open social, oauth, portable contacts

Some people think there’s a war about to happen but these standards can interact in future.

What will get everyone to open up? It’s the money, according to Li.

Most social ads require explicit activity. Or overstep bounds (a la facebook ads).

Media6 identifies who is closest to you, your “network neighbors”" for example serving ads based on one user visiting a site/ad, and delivering it to one of their network friends.

The rise of the personal CPM

Measures level of influence and charges advertising accordingly. Turns things upside down.

In 2009…

1. Standards will become more applicable
2. Players will become more diverse.
3. Biz models will look at making ad models more efficient by targeting social data

In your world…

1. Identify where social makes sense…mobile, retail, TV…
- Leverage existing identity systems
- Get privacy and permission policies in line
- Think about who your trust agents will be?

2. Get your back end data in order
-Get SSO
-Share data

3. Prepare to integrate social networks into your organization
-Traditional silo’s are being blown up
-Put customer at top and CEO at bottom (how cybernetic!!!)
-Social networks fall throughout the organization
-If social media is so compelling, why is it so hard for organizations to adopt it? It’s due to traditional organizational structure and power structures.

Summary
-I believe that social networks will be like air
-The technologies are not yet there but are inevitable
-Open networks will be the norm so consider how you are going to open your business

Tags: business, Network